"And they didn't have a cell phone..."

A few days ago after I finished reading the book Grandma Gatewood's Walk, I perused my bookshelves for my next trail book.

I found A Walk in the Woods, Appalachian Trail Thru-hikers' Companion 2012 (Thru-hiker Companions are published each year), and The Appalachian Trail.

I pulled the third one from its shelf.
~~~

The book is hardbound with a slightly-tattered book cover with a photograph of two backpackers hiking along the trail. A woman in front and a man in the distance.

Below the photo two separate names and an organization are listed. In all caps. In small print.

BY RONALD M. FISHER
PHOTOGRAPHED BY DICK DURRANCE II
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY

I open the book and flip the slightly-yellowed pages with my left thumb. The pages are sprinkled with slightly-yellowed photographs.

This looks like fun.

Didn't Denise give me this book? I think she did.

I ponder.

This is the book! I thought she'd given me Grandma Gatewood. I'll have to let her know.

I chuckle.

I read the front inside flap of the book cover. It identifies the names of the two backpackers, Jill Durrance and Ron Fisher.

I flip through the first few pages and land on the Copyright page.

1972. Hm. Intriguing.

I read a paragraph captured under an elderly man's photograph.

The photograph is of then-93-year-old Benton MacKaye who is attributed as the founder of the Appalachian Trail.

The paragraph contains a quote by MacKaye, "The ultimate purpose of the Appalachian Trail? To walk. To see. And to see what you see."

I like that. Being present.

I smile.

The Foreward is written by MacKaye.

The book is a firsthand account of the journey of three backpackers along the trail; the author, the photographer, and the photographer's wife.
~~~

Today, I began reading the chapters.

In the Prologue as I read the author's overview of their journey, at the end of a one-sentence paragraph that follows a longer paragraph relaying snippets about Tennessee and Virginia and West Virginia and Pennsylvania and New Hampshire and Maine and that the trio passed through 14 states and 8 national forests and 2 national parks and several state preserves...

At the end of that descriptive paragraph, sits that one-sentence paragraph:
"In six months we sampled a long, thin strip of America."

I read the sentence and added, And they didn't have a cell phone.

My added words almost appeared on the slightly-yellowed page before my eyes.

The words did appear on the page in my mind.

And they didn't have a cell phone.

Ironically, my iPhone 5 got stuck on "Searching..." last Thursday in the wee morning hours. I spent through the following Monday morning endeavoring to fix it. Internet searches. A local AT&T store. The local Apple Store. Two different Apple technicians via phone. All were very helpful and I learned a lot. But it appears that that iPhone 5 will be forever "Searching..."

"Forever searching." Reminds me of X-Files.

Lucky for me, I found my old iPhone 4. It is now resurrected. My only monetary cost was $15 for a new power cord.